Today I want to talk about forgiveness. It has been on my mind for some time now as a result of our regular use of our liturgies to guide us in worship. It has come to me that during our liturgies we repeat our need for forgiveness so often that I’m sure God gets tired of listening to us. What do I mean by that? Well, in the liturgy for Holy Communion in the BAS, we mention our need for forgiveness four times – one of them after we have prayed our confession and received absolution. This past Sunday we prayed Morning Prayer together from the BCP. In that service we mentioned our sinful state at least 5 times! Now don’t get excited, I’m not going to change the liturgy, but if I’m asked the next time it is, I’ll make a suggestion they go light on our sinfulness!
What I fear is that many of us live our lives like this…thinking we aren’t forgiven and thinking we are in God’s bad books! Maybe after this little chat, you will be able to think differently.
First, let me say that forgiveness moves in three directions. Between God and me, me and myself and me and others.
So, first let’s talk about forgiveness between God and me. And this psalm I think tells just about the whole story.
In verses 8-10 the psalmist – and David gets credit for this one - describes the character of God as it pertains to forgiveness. He writes that God is “full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness. He will not always accuse us or keep his anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins.” In other words, God doesn’t hold grudges nor does He keep a record! God’s compassion and forgiveness is as great as the distance between us and the high heavens.
Then the psalmist goes on to tell us what God does with our sins: First, he removes them as far as the east is from the west. Now remember this was written before the new world was discovered. It was a few thousand years later that Champlain arrived here in Nova Scotia. So it is unlikely the hearers would have any notion of how far the east is from the west. Do we? According to our maps, the world is flat! But when you put a globe in front of you, it just keeps moving towards the east or the west depending on which you start turning it.
The prophet Micah almost quotes this psalm, but adds, “(God) He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. He will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:19 ff.
And then in verse 13, David switches in to this beautiful metaphor of a father who cares for his children…and just as a good father cares for his children, so does God care for us and understands that we don’t always get it! He understands that we blow it sometimes and yes, says David, the merciful goodness of the Lord goes on forever.
In the research I did for this morning, I read this: “David wanted people of faith to understand that the Lord is always present for his devout ones and that it is humans themselves who isolate God from their lives.” I like that! It is we who put up barriers between us and God. It isn’t God who creates the barriers.
Before I move on let me say, I think many of us have a misguided idea of God and a lot of it comes from the church. When I was a child we sang this chorus in Sunday school. “He sees all you do, He hears all you say; My Lord is writing all the time, time, time;” Now you know what that is designed to teach kids. “you had better shape up because God is watching and keeping track and if you step out of line, He will get you.” Bad theology, I think.
Then, forgiveness, moves between me and myself. You know we don’t forgive ourselves for things we did or didn’t do in the past. Maybe something has come to your mind right away that you know you are still feeling guilty about – because you haven’t forgiven yourself even though you may have asked God for forgiveness. When we carry the guilt of past sins it hinders our relationships with other people, it clouds our relationship with God and it keeps us from developing as complete, happy, and fulfilled people.
Let me give you a personal example. My sister had a child out of wedlock in 1967. For many reasons, the boy was adopted right from the hospital. My sister never forgave herself for that. We all wondered what happened to him and finally just as he was about to turn 40 we found each other! Well, the long and the short of it is that after 40 years his life was quite different from that of our family and it has not been a happy reunion for either him or us. As most of you know, those reunions can go one of two ways and ours was not good. Again, my sister has not forgiven herself for the birth or for the way the reunion has turned out. And she should know better, her husband is a pastor!!!!
Our inability to forgive ourselves is a huge barrier to living a full, and fulfilled life. It is also a barrier to the third way that forgiveness flows and that is between us and others. I’m sure that as we sit here, each of us can think of someone we need to forgive for something they did or said in the past. I know this is hard, I know that in our world, it is normal to hold grudges and let things fester…but we are called to a different world, and that is the world of love, compassion and forgiveness.
In Ephesians 4: 31-32 “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as, in Christ, God forgave you.”
So let’s just apply this to the service this morning. Do you know the Biblical basis for why we pass the peace? Show of hands? Well, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said this, “If you are offering your gift at the altar, and there, you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.” Passing the Peace began as a way for people in the Christian community to be reconciled to one another before making their offering at the altar. It is for this reason that the Peace always comes before Communion.” “(Matthew 5:23-24),
When I was an intern at the Church of the Redeemer in Toronto we had an older retired priest who was an honourary assistant. Father John was an old curmudgeon if there ever was one. One Sunday morning before the service he and I were talking and I tried to imitate his Welsh accent. He went nuts! “Don’t you ever talk like that to me again, because I don’t have an accent!” Well, I was floored. For once I didn’t know what to say. When it came time for the passing of the peace, Father John came across the chancel – which was twice the width of our chancel - to me, put his arms around me and said, “I love you brother!” He understood why we have the passing of the peace and practiced what he professed to believe – curmudgeon or not!
So, the bottom line is this. If we can’t accept God’s forgiveness, we will not be able to forgive ourselves and in turn to forgive those who have hurt us. We must learn, if we haven’t already, to accept the forgiveness that God offers us and that He gives us every time we are here – or praying in our home. God forgives us wherever we are. So my brothers and sisters, sit back, relax, know that you are loved and forgiven and God has thrown our sins into the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
